European Union holding meeting to scrutinize ‘misleading’ free-to-play games

Game developers and app sellers are getting a stern talking to from the European Union.

This week, Apple and Google are meeting with the European Commission, the executive body of the EU, to cover the conflicts that free-to-play games present to consumer protection. The app industry employs 1 million people in Europe, and in-app purchases generate more than $13.8 billion in revenue across the continent, according to analytics firm Distimo. To maintain those jobs and the influx of cash, the EU wants to ensure that it can trust that free-to-play games are not employing deceptive tactics to squeeze money from under-informed players. This meeting is focusing on mobile even while the microtransaction model grows on traditional platforms like PC. That’s likely because the big free games on PC (like action-strategy title League of Legends) have a reputation for fairness.